Choosing a vault app
The questions worth asking of any photo vault app, answered without naming apps.
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- How to choose a photo vault app for iPhoneA photo vault is only as good as its claims are checkable. Ten tests for encryption, accounts, copies, usage reports, recovery and price.
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- Are photo vault apps safe?Photo vault apps range from real encryption to a code screen over plain files. How to tell the difference, and the failures to watch for.
- Calculator vault apps: how they work and why they existDisguise apps look like a calculator but may not encrypt anything. How they work, how to tell, and what a disguise cannot protect.
- A photo vault that does not recompress your photosSome vaults recompress photos and videos on import. How to check for yourself, what is lost, and why originals matter for documents.
- How do photo vault apps work?What a vault does with a photo: import, encrypt, store, view, delete. Where each step can leave a trace on an iPhone.
- iPhone passwords vs a vault appThe iPhone password manager holds logins, not files. What belongs in each, and where documents and recovery codes fit.
- iPhone locked notes vs a vault appLocked notes encrypt a note and its attachments under a password. How that compares with a vault app for photos, videos and files.
- An offline photo vault for iPhone, with no accountAn offline vault keeps files on the phone with no login and no upload. What to check, and the trade-off you accept for having no copy elsewhere.
- Photo vault with no subscription: what to check before you payWhat a photo vault should charge for, what happens to your files if you stop paying, and what to check before you buy.
- Samsung Secure Folder vs iPhone: what to use insteadSamsung's Secure Folder has no direct iPhone equivalent. What to use instead on an iPhone, and what does not move across.
- How to share photos securely from your iPhoneWays to share private photos: messages, AirDrop, shared albums, encrypted files. What each exposes and which routes are safest.
- How to spot a fake calculator app on an iPhoneSigns that a calculator icon is hiding something: storage use, Screen Time, App Library, purchase history. For checking your own phone or a child's.